Time to unleash next golden generation

A NOTABLE difference in attitude informed both fans and pundits ahead of Munster’s failed Heineken Cup rescue mission in Toulon on Sunday.

For much of the past decade, writing off Munster when their backs were to the wall was almost a necessary part of the build-up. Let an opposition player shout his mouth off, let Sky Sports talk up the English sides; all the motivation necessary for the inevitable demolition job.

But this time, hope rather than expectation prevailed.

Many feared this Munster side was at least a year past their sell-by-date, and were banking on them to produce a performance from memory. They couldn’t, and now the rush has began to retire or write off half the squad.

It is easy to wonder whether Munster’s enviable record of reaching the knockout stages for 12 years in-a-row has hindered their longer-term development. Amid a fervent appetite for Heineken Cup rugby in springtime, Munster have turned to their stalwarts time and again to pull them through. Such enduring loyalty is admirable, but sport is littered with examples of teams who endured long wilderness periods as a vacuum appeared behind a golden generation.

The warning signs have been present for some time; the creaking scrum, ponderous back play and, more recently, loss of discipline in the face of pressure; you have to go back to the November victory over Australia for the last time Munster didn’t pick up a card of some hue.

So where do they go next? Top of their shopping list will be a first centre who can act as a foil for others and hold the defensive line, and a quality tight-head prop who can hold up the scrum. Regarding the former, Sam Tuitupou and, to a lesser extent, Lifeimi Mafi should be worried. Both have had indifferent seasons, littered with disciplinary problems, and are taking up non-Irish qualified (NIQ) places in the side.

Tuitupou says he’s “fallen in love” with Munster, but few will be surprised if his one-year contract is not renewed, and fans will be hoping there is no smoke without fire regarding the reports linking All Black Ma’a Nonu to the province.

In the front row, John Hayes is seemingly required to stick around for the World Cup, due to the Irish management’s continued ignorance of the country’s best scrummaging tight-head, Mike Ross.

Tony Buckley continues to infuriate while Peter Borlase hasn’t yet looked like the answer at tighthead either; supporters will wonder why an effort wasn’t made to tempt Connacht’s Jamie Hagan to head south. On the other side, Wian du Preez’s second stint at Munster hasn’t been as impressive as his first. Darragh Hurley has come back into the reckoning after a bizarre eye injury — among other ailments — thwarted the process of a loose-head prop hailed as one of the best 10 young prospects in world rugby back in 2007. There are many who hope he can make the shirt his own.

And what of the remainder home-grown lot? The province has copped criticism for failing to expose enough of its younger brigade to regular white-hot Heineken Cup action, in the way Ulster and Leinster have with the likes of Nevin Spence, Adam D’Arcy, Dominic Ryan and Seán O’Brien. Whether this is innate conservatism, or a lack of players of the requisite potential coming through, is up for debate. Certainly, Leinster have more top-notch young back-rowers than they know what to do with right now, but Munster have a couple of their own in Peter O’Mahony and Paddy Butler.

Second-row Ian Nagle, hooker Mike Sherry, utility back Scott Deasy and scrum-halves Duncan Williams and Conor Murray are others who could benefit from extended runs in the side. Should Munster qualify for the last eight of the Amlin Challenge Cup, it could provide a unique opportunity to blood raw talent in a knockout European arena.

Accountability is, of course, also required on the management side of things; Tony McGahan and his backroom team have plenty of issues to consider in the aftermath of this Heineken Cup campaign.

These include the continued selection of off-colour players, persistence with a flawed game-plan, the composition of the back row and the failure to select Keith Earls and Johne Murphy in their best positions, amongst others.

Plenty of soul-searching will surely be done by all concerned in the coming days and weeks, as it remains to be seen whether Munster can bounce back from the unfamiliar sensation of an early European exit, or if the province is primed for a more worrying decline.